Long flight plan

David Rind wrote in message ...
I'm planning to fly from Boston to Key West next month
with a stop near Bethesda on the way down and in Charlotte on
the way back....

1) What do people like to use for flight planning for something
like this? Laying multiple sectionals on the floor next to each
other seems a bit painful. Is Aeroplanner a good choice? If so,
is the basic Aeroplanner the right level for this kind of thing?

You might look into the low-altitude VFR/IFR planning chart. It's not
available at all FBOs, but here's a link:
http://www.pilotcharts.com/ifrvfrplan.html Sporty's also carries it I
think. I've not planned a trip this long, but this chart seems like
the way to go.

3) If I fly into the Washington ADIZ IFR, can I cancel in the air
when I have the airport, or do I need to cancel on the ground? How
does switching over to the CTAF work if I'm supposed to be maintaining
communications with ATC while in the ADIZ?

I fly out of Leesburg, VA, an aiport well inside the ADIZ. You need
to file your ADIZ flight plan, and make sure the FSS you do it with
sends it to ZDC. See AOPA's ADIZ info, it's useful. When entering
the ADIZ, it's basically call Potomac Approach up 5-10 miles outside
and tell them "Nxxx inbound for landing at YYY, ADIZ plan on file."
They'll respond with a code, and your good to go.

If you're on an IFR plan (I'm told) or have flight following, the
above steps are very easy and almost automatic. After all, you're
already talking to them and have a code right? That's the NOTAM
requirements. Ask 'em anyhow though... It won't hurt and procedures
and controller's preferences change.

At some point they'll ask you to tell them when your airport's in
sight. When you say that it is, you'll get "change frequencies,
maintain code till you're on the ground". Occasionally, they'll ask
you to cancel on the ground, usually through the clearance frequency.
If they forget and wait too long, just ask if you can change
frequencies. Don't change w/o an ok though.

You don't cancel however. You especially don't cancel in the air.
Your ADIZ plan follows you to the ground, you maintain your code till
you're on the ground. Cancel from there if you'd been asked to.
Cancelling implies a code of 1200 which is something you really don't
want to do! Unless you like being featured in news stories about
pilots violating the ADIZ that is. grin

This above is based on my experience as a low-time pilot out of
Leesbug.

Sounds like a fun flight!

-Malcolm Teas

I recently flew from Nebraska to Miami. Longest flight I'd made. Really
just a series of 2 1/2 to 3 hr flights. I used the planning chart to more
or less lay out the route. But it kind of changed as I went because
of weather. Just picked airports with computer weather planning.

I parked at Tamiami (KTMB) in SW Miami for a few days. Wasn't too bad ..
they were nice there. I suppose that would be okay for a fuel stop before
heading to KW. If you only have one motor you may not feel comfy
out over the Everglades. Down the VFR flyway just west of the city is a good
choice.


"David Rind" wrote in message
...
I'm planning to fly from Boston to Key West next month
with a stop near Bethesda on the way down and in Charlotte on
the way back. I'll need/want to make some additional stops along
the way, of course. This is a longer flight than I have made before
and much of it will be through states I have not flown in before.
So, I have a bunch of questions:

1) What do people like to use for flight planning for something
like this? Laying multiple sectionals on the floor next to each
other seems a bit painful. Is Aeroplanner a good choice? If so,
is the basic Aeroplanner the right level for this kind of thing?

2) I'm thinking of flying to Tipton (FME) to get near Bethesda.
Anyone have opinions on this airport? GAI seems to have gotten
a lot of negative comments on AirNav, though if the weather is
bad I'll probably go there instead. (I miss being able to fly
into College Park!)

3) If I fly into the Washington ADIZ IFR, can I cancel in the air
when I have the airport, or do I need to cancel on the ground? How
does switching over to the CTAF work if I'm supposed to be maintaining
communications with ATC while in the ADIZ?

4) I'm thinking about stopping at North Myrtle Beach (CRE) for
a fuel stop in at least one direction (nice comments on AirNav).
Anyone else have comments?

5) Is there an airport about 300 miles north of Key West that
would make a good place to stop for fuel/food? (I'm trying to
keep legs to about 300 nm each so that I'm only flying about 2 hours
before stopping, since my wife won't tolerate being in the plane
much longer than that -- plane cruises at about 155 knots).

Any additional comments/suggestions will be appreciated!

-- David

--
David Rind

BWI is even further from Bethesda than FME. If you arrive durng peak
commuting times, the roads will be jammed.

GAI has two disadvantages:
1 Lousy routings southbound (figure on flying about 15 minutes out of
your way)
2 High minimums on the approaches, and a greater chance of low weather
than the metro airports to the south.

Under the best of circumstances, BWI to Bethesda is an hour drive.
However, if it is not essential to visit Bethesda, BWI, with its ILS
approaches and good southbound departures, would be the better choice.

Paul

"Paul Hamilton" wrote in message m...

Under the best of circumstances, BWI to Bethesda is an hour drive.
However, if it is not essential to visit Bethesda, BWI, with its ILS
approaches and good southbound departures, would be the better choice.

Dulles is also an option. You can get a coach to the West Falls Church
Metro. It's about 30 minutes (with light traffic) to drive it. I've made NIH
from my office (we're on the north end of the field) in about 20 minutes at
the dawn of crack in the morning.

1) What do people like to use for flight planning for something
like this? Laying multiple sectionals on the floor next to each
other seems a bit painful

It's what I do, and it's not painful at all. In fact, I kind of like it.
(although I wish I had an old WAC chart I could use for the initial flight
planning). Once I've gotten the overall route down, I can do the detailled
planning one chart at a time.


GAI seems to have gotten
a lot of negative comments on AirNav,


Just flew there last month (yet to comment on it on Airnav though). It was
fine, though I got water in the gas the first time. I mentioned it to them
when I refueled the second time, and the gas was clean.


3) If I fly into the Washington ADIZ IFR, can I cancel in the air
when I have the airport, or do I need to cancel on the ground?


You can cancel in the air, but you retain your squawk code. DO NOT SQUAWK
1200!

Jose

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